304 Communications respecting Bocks of Scandinavia. 



On the Erratic Phenomena. 

 As to phenomena ai'ising from the erratic system, it may 

 be said, that these in Scandinavia are limited to strige, pro- 

 duced by friction and (riesentopfe) giant-pots. The erratic 

 blocks ai'e of less importance. By this, however, I do not 

 mean to say, that one may not be as much in error in ex- 

 plaining this phenomenon as in others. I have seen polished 

 and striated rocks on the sea-shore, so that the line of stria- 

 tion now passes under the level of the sea, — a proof that the 

 tides are by no means inimical to the phenomena; but whe- 

 ther they may, therefore, be considered as causes of it, is by 

 no means decided by this circumstance, for striated rocks are 

 also found at a great distance from the ocean. In Tellemar- 

 ken, striated or grooved lines, produced by friction, are to be 

 seen 2000 feet above the level of the sea; on Gousta-Fjeld, 

 they are observed even at 4000 feet. But the sea has cer- 

 tainly never reached so great a height in modern times. The 

 rocks witli the firmly-adhering barnacles (Balanus), near 

 Christiania, which furnish the most striking proof of tlieir 

 having been once covered by the sea, lie only 400 feet above 

 its level ; and a little above this elevation, all traces of a ma- 

 rine diluvium seem to disappear. Tliough the fact is also esta- 

 blished, that the level of the sea in Norway formerly stood 

 higher, still that fact has no bearing on the striated character 

 of the rocks in the high lands, which, doubtless, may be ex- 

 plained in the same way as the similar phenomenon in Swit- 

 zerland. Tlie matter stands otherwise in Sweden. The 

 whole of this country lies very low, and the characteristic 

 Scheren on the west coast extend with the same character, 

 as naked and destitute of all vegetation, as they stand out in 

 tlie midst of the sea, many miles distant in the interior of 

 West Gothland, &o that one is often inclined to believe, that 

 the action of the waves of the Cattegat and Skagerrak upon 

 these rocks was only a matter of yesterday. The same is 

 the case on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. The time 

 may easily be calculated, Avhen tlie hills of Stockholm were 

 hidden under the water, and the rocks are rising out of the 

 sea, as it were before our eyes ; but they issue forth rounded 



